Doctors often recommend special diets for one simple reason: eating right can cure that which ails you. Eating right is the most reliable way to ensure your body gets what it needs to function properly. Eating right is so important in fact, that right now there are special diets that have been designed for adults, children, the elderly, infants and even animals.

When most people hear the term special diets, they immediately react by thinking there is a need to lose weight. While it’s true that many diets have been created for the sole purpose of helping to lose weight, what many people don’t realize is that lots of people, whether overweight nor not, benefit from being on some type of diet.

With the way life is today, it’s difficult to find time to eat right. Most of us grab our meals at the nearest take-out fast food restaurant and eat while traveling from one location to the next. Many others skip meals entirely. Sitting down to eat in restaurants is no better with serving sizes double and even triple what they should be. Even worse is that so many restaurant foods, especially the ones that taste so good, are loaded with saturated fats that harm the body in ways most people don’t realize.

Special diets, especially those that are nutritionally-balanced meaning that they help people meet the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals as determined by the government, accomplish much more than weight loss. Special diets help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, two extremely dangerous conditions that significantly increase the risks of developing heart disease and they help fight against many forms of cancer.

Eating foods that are high in fiber help reduce gastrointestinal problems. Diabetics need special diets to maintain proper blood-sugar levels, something that is literally a matter of life or death. Vegetarians, individuals with lactose and other intolerances, children who have trouble concentrating, and even individuals with certain religious beliefs all benefit in one way or another from special diets. So don’t let the term scare you!